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Why does quantum browser redirect to malicious website?

Paul53b
Paul53b
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This seems to happen when I'm on Yahoo's site only. It occurred prior to Quantum with the latest Firefox version and currently happens with 57.0.2.. The malicious website opens a new page warning that my OS needs to be updated and it also opens a new window asking for login information. I've set the autoblockrefresh to True and Quantum still redirects. McAfee's antivirus and antispyware do not detect anything and cannot see anything malicious in my Windows 7 task manager. Upon research I see this issue has affected Mozilla for several years but for me it is new in 2017 (on a Dell desktop that is only 11 months old). I suspect a Java exploit on Yahoo's site-- could it actually be a Shockwave Flash vulnerability? Any ideas?

This seems to happen when I'm on Yahoo's site only. It occurred prior to Quantum with the latest Firefox version and currently happens with 57.0.2.. The malicious website opens a new page warning that my OS needs to be updated and it also opens a new window asking for login information. I've set the autoblockrefresh to True and Quantum still redirects. McAfee's antivirus and antispyware do not detect anything and cannot see anything malicious in my Windows 7 task manager. Upon research I see this issue has affected Mozilla for several years but for me it is new in 2017 (on a Dell desktop that is only 11 months old). I suspect a Java exploit on Yahoo's site-- could it actually be a Shockwave Flash vulnerability? Any ideas?

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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These kinds of redirects are generally presumed to be delivered via ads on the page, and not to be part of Yahoo's own code. Other than using ad blockers, it is not clear how to avoid triggering the redirects.

Some difficulties posed in investigating them are (1) the destination URLs are coded so that they only display the attack page in your browser, and (2) the source ads may appear infrequently or only for certain combinations of demographics or other targeting criteria.